The most valuable real estate in the world is the graveyard. There lie millions of half-written books, ideas never launched, and talents never developed. Most people die with everything still inside of them. The way to live is to create. Die empty. Get every idea out of your head and into reality. Calling yourself creative doesn’t make it true. Make finishing your top priority ~ Derek Sivers
What I'm Doing Now
Every morning I go to the farm, get the hens up, feed and water them. Then, I feed the calves in the shed and the paddock. It's one of my greatest joys especially when they come for cuddles or submit to me making a fuss of them.
Over the past month or so, I've sensed undercurrents - shifts and changes. The urge to delete what I no longer need - social media, apps and, this week, Substack - has been chomping at my heels, quite relentlessly. A self-confessed geek, I love tech but, right now, I'm embracing a more analogue way of life. The constant consumption no longer works for me. Social media scrolling is some constant search for the unattainable. That piece of information that will change everything, a revelation, an aha. But it never comes and the rest is just slop, not even AI slop.
I talked to Lightpage about these shifts. We've discussed Jungian philosophy, life after 60, creativity and maintenance, and magic. I can't find magic online. But it's there in the flow of the everyday, when I stand watching over the calves while water pours into their drinking tubs. When they crowd round me to say hello, when they let me connect with them. Magic is picking free fruit from trees and hedgerows, the family of red-legged Partridges who raid the chicken run for corn, the migrating geese who fly overhead each morning. I wonder if doomscrolling prevents us from really living.
This is where I'm at. Going back to a more analogue way of life. Paper to do lists. Notebooks. Creating instead of consuming.
What I'm Writing
I used to aspire to be a Writer. Now, I'm not sure. Perhaps I'm just someone who enjoys jotting in notebooks and putting out a blog every now and then.
What I'm Reading
Carol Klein, Hortobiography - Carol briefly attended the same school as me, some years earlier. We met her once at an event and had a brief chat.
My Toolkit
- Voicenotes
- Kortex
- Sublime
- Lightpage
- Supernotes
Last updated: 11/09/2025